Montclair State rescinds suspension of student who made internet remarks

Montclair State University has rescinded its suspension of a graduate student who was sanctioned for posts he made on the Internet, including an unflattering remark about another student’s weight.

University President Susan Cole reversed the decision of a hearing officer who had levied the semester-long suspension on Joseph Aziz, 25.

“Joseph Aziz has been reinstated and is free to register for the spring semester,” Suzanne Bronski, spokeswoman for the university said Friday.

The reversal came following a legal review by the university and after the issue was taken up by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia-based free speech advocacy group.

The group argued that the university had imposed an “unconstitutional gag order” on Aziz, who is studying molecular biology.

“It’s unfortunate that we had to take this public but we commend President Cole for doing the right thing,” said Robert Shibley, a senior vice president of the group.

The dispute began during a political discussion online over a You Tube video. Aziz made comments about a female student’s weight in the thread. The school ordered Aziz to have no contact with the woman and forbade him from posting anything about her on social media.

Aziz then complained about this penalty to a private Facebook group.

Montclair State was informed of the comments and, at a campus judicial hearing, cleared Aziz of charges of harassment and disruptive conduct but found him guilty of violating the no contact order, Shibley said. He was suspended for the spring 2013 semester, and barred from campus under threat of arrest, according to the free speech group.

In her letter to Aziz, posted on the website of the free speech group, Cole said that because Aziz was cleared of harassment and disruptive conduct, the no contact order should be rescinded. Consequently, Aziz can not be in violation of that order.

The free speech group wrote to Cole earlier this month saying the no contact directive amounted to a gag order and that it and the punishment violated Aziz’s first amendment rights. The group said they went public with the case earlier this week after getting no response.

Montclair State briefly tried to justify its decision by appealing to New Jersey’s tough anti-bullying law, Shibley said, but Aziz’s comments did not constitute bullying and, even if they had, would have been constitutionally protected.

Aziz could not be reached for comment.

In her letter, Cole had some advice for the student, saying that his comments about the other student distracted from the political point he was trying to make in the internet thread.

“Up to a point….a student is free to act in an offensive manner and free to say offensive things,” Cole wrote. “The right to be offensive, however, does not mean that one should be.”